Annie G. lost 40 Pounds,* Feels "More Positive About Everything"

"I learned that if I want to successfully lose weight, I had to do it first and foremost for myself. As my weight ballooned, I felt worse than ever about myself." - Annie G.

I am a professional vocalist and it was during an audition that I realized my life needed a drastic change. I’ve struggled with my weight for most of my life, but when my grandmother passed away, my eating habits became completely out of control.

Her passing was the most significant loss that I'd ever experienced and I felt completely overwhelmed by grief. For the next six months, I coped by eating whenever and whatever I wanted. As my weight ballooned, I felt worse than ever about myself. I was making bad choices and eating fast food late at night, which caused me to sleep poorly. I had so little energy and was dragging myself through the day, rather than taking the time to enjoy anything or to focus on my work. The extra weight caused the arthritis in my knees to worsen and it was very painful walking longer distances, even standing in heels. My orthopedic doctor strongly urged me to lose weight.

At this point, none of my clothes were fitting very well; I only had one audition dress that I could still wear and it barely fit. When I arrived at the audition, I changed into that dress. It was so tight that I could hardly zip it up. I was incredibly uncomfortable because I couldn't breathe very well (which is terrible for singing!), and I knew that my complete lack of confidence was very apparent. I was so distracted with feeling horrible about myself for gaining so much weight that I couldn't focus on my performance.

"Jenny Craig fit well with my lifestyle. I could stay on the program, no matter how unpredictable my schedule was."

I had tried many different diets on my own, but nothing worked for me. I don't have a lot of time to prepare and cook meals, so I needed a structured program that was easy to follow and did not require a lot of cooking on my part. Jenny Craig fit well with my lifestyle. I could stay on the program, no matter how unpredictable my schedule was. I also really liked having a weekly weigh-in and consultation. It held me accountable, so that I could face my fears and challenges about losing weight and get personalized advice and guidance. In the past, I would avoid the scale and lie to myself about my weight. Meeting with a compassionate, understanding and knowledgeable consultant proved to be a great asset in achieving my weight loss success.*

The Jenny Craig foods are delicious and gentle on my stomach. I often eat dinner late at night after returning from a rehearsal or performance. The Jenny Craig food fills me up without feeling uncomfortable so that I can sleep well. I am most hungry in the mornings. I always start the day with one of the shakes, an anytime bar, which supplies vitamins and a breakfast entrée. Starting my day with a good breakfast sets me up for a successful day.

"Life is better in absolutely every way since losing weight!"

Life is better in absolutely every way since losing weight! I feel better, look better and have so much more energy. When I was overweight, insecurity about how I looked constantly occupied my thoughts. When I eliminated that constant concern, I just felt more positive about everything. I enjoy shopping for clothes much more and I don't have to buy them with the purpose of hiding the way I look. I am much healthier than I used to be and my knees feel so much better as well!

I learned that if I want to successfully lose weight, I have to do it first and foremost for myself. I was ready to make the commitment, and even if I had setbacks, I stayed motivated, focused and kept trying. It wasn't easy by any means, but with determination, will power and sticking to the Jenny Craig plan, I lost 40 pounds!*

*Results not typical. Members following our program, on average, lose 1-2 lbs. per week. Member received promotional consideration.

I think the point of the article/ad is that it merely offers an option for those who may want to try a more structured program. And sure people gain their weight back and it has nothing to do with the program. I used NO programs when I lost my first 56 lbs and gained back 30. It IS however, about finding what works for you. Plain and simple. If JC, NS and WW weren't effective, they wouldn't have stayed in business for so long.
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I was curious who Annie G was and which organ she was singing in front of, in the one scene where she is wearing a blue dress. It reminded me of the Marcussen Organ at Wichita State University.

The main thing I have against Jenny Craig or even NutraSystem, for that matter, is the processed foods they use. It's all boxed or packaged and they always have various soy proteins and other allergens that I can't deal with. The overall concept of having food ready to go and already in the proper proportion size is definitely appealing. I would like to see them packaged in ways that don't utilize stabilizers and preservatives and junk like that.

As an example, there is an online business called IShopIndian (dot) com where you can see various brand I will mention here in a second. We happen to have a large Indo-Pak community so we have lots of local stores carrying these brands, but I just found this website quickly so others could look and see what I am referring to, in the way of alternative packaging that doesn't require foods to be heavily preserved with chemicals in order to be shelf stable. I have personally bought and used the Kohinoor, Tasty Bite, Ashoka, and MTR brands here in Kansas, and they are all delicious, no preservatives, and are in a vacuum pack bag inside of a box - so the contents can be reheated in a pan of boiling water, or scooped out into another bowl and microwaved or pan heated etc. So that technology exists and could be used for many of the other foods we like to eat. Of course, JC and NS also recommend eating fresh veggies to supplement, like salads or using fruit as a snack.

So I guess it's a coin-toss, isn't it? Better to have pre-measured portions ready to go to work, school, whatever we do outside the home, or better to do it from home with better ingredients?

Also, the NutriSystem thing - I have a friend that lost 70 or so pounds using their products. She said there was a user group where various NS customers shared their "copy cat recipes" of the various products, with emphasis on matching the same portion sizes - they recommended people use the products for several months to get used to how eating one portion size actually feels, before graduating to recipes. So, in that sense, using JC or NC as a tool to help acquire or re-acquire that "sense" of how much a serving actually feels might be worth it, as a temporary side trip, before getting back on the road to preparing and measuring one's own food. It's sure tempting to me, in that regards - but the price turns me off!!
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I love to read SparkPeople success stories, but SparkPeople was not mentioned! I usually take up for SP when there are complaints about advertisers, but this time I can't! I feel I was misled. It was like bait and switch!
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Is Annie G. a Sparkpeople member? Was she compensated by Jennie Craig for this testimonial? If you are using Spark blogs for commercials, full disclosure is needed.
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PRUSSIANETTE2/8/2018

So, we're getting points now to listen to commercials? Could you at least tell us it is a commercial before we click on it. It's not like we never heard of Jenny Craig before. Are all your emails now going to contain links to commercial. Please, let us know so I don't click on any more links. Or, have a special "commercial" section that for those SparkPeople members that want to rack up points can use them this way. I pay for commercial free, and then I am still seeing commercials.
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